[plug] Questions for information

[Richard Henry]

> More of a question in a similar vain than a response (hope 
> you don't mind 
> James :)...I was just wondering if anyone could tell me why 
> sometimes a 
> script or executable can be run simply by entering it's name 
> (while in the 
> same dir) and yet another has to have it's complete address 
> to run (once 
> again, even when in the same dir).
> 

Are you the same user in both cases?  If not, it's probably to do with your
PATH environment (echo $PATH).

If your path contains '.' (without the ''), it means "the current
directory".  As such, you can be in a directory and type the name of an
executable file there, and it will run.  It is relatively common for a
normal user account to have '.' in their path.

You normally wouldn't have it in the root users path though, due to security
concerns (eg: a rogue user puts a script in his home directory that wipes
the harddrive, and symlinks 'ls' and 'cd' to it - root user enters the
directory, types 'ls' and *boom*).

BTW, when in the same directory, you don't have to type the full address to
run something - just put ./ before the name, ie:

	./myScript

	where myScript is the file you want to run.

Rich.